A Buddhist Spiritual Practice Based on the Buddha's Night of Liberation

This site introduces an advanced Buddhist spiritual practice
called the Bodhi-Tree
meditation.

The Bodhi-Tree (or wisdom-tree) is a set of four distinct Buddhist
meditations. Each meditation is
based on an insight that the historical Buddha was said to have experienced
as he sat under the Bodhi-Tree more than twenty-four centuries ago.
According to Buddhist tradition, the hours before the
Buddha's enlightenment were divided into four watches
or periods of the night. During each watch, the
Buddha experienced a specific set of insights or revelations. During
the last watch, as the
morning star appeared on the horizon at dawn, the Buddha entered Nirvana.

Many modern Buddhist lineages have not emphasized the
importance of these stages as the pattern that the Buddha followed to reach
liberation. However, his stages of liberation are an example for all who
seek liberation, and in the past, there have been important teachings
based on these stages that have been lost.

The Four Watches of the Night

A brief summary of the insights of the Buddha
during the four watches of the night
follows. These insights will be correlated with the different
practices of the Bodhi-Tree meditation as we proceed with the explanation
of the practice.

The First Watch - The recollection of human past lives, and knowledge
of the cycle of death and rebirth

The Second Watch - The recognition that the cycle of rebirth affects all
sentient beings in all worlds, and that the law of karma determines the
quality and type of rebirth, and its suffering

The Third Watch - The recognition of the cycle of causality that leads to
death and rebirth, and the means of liberation from this cycle

The Fourth Watch - The recognition of the state of enlightenment, and the
great awakening of the Buddha

The Symbolism of the Bodhi-Tree

The Bodhi-Tree or wisdom-tree is a sacred symbol in Buddhism for a number
of reasons.

It represents the place of the Buddha's enlightenment, and is therefore
sacred geographically.

It is ancient. Thus, it is sacred
temporally.

It represents growth towards liberation. Therefore, it is sacred
developmentally.

It was said to rain blossoms. Though these were said to represent the
blessings of celestial buddhas and devas, they also symbolically
represented the
tree as being sacred aesthetically.

In all these cases, the Bodhi-Tree's symbolism gives access to the
Dharmakaya, which is the most transcendent aspect of Buddhism. However,
this access is not based on
simple awareness. The access to the Dharmakaya comes via the Sambhogakaya, the
pathways through the intermediate worlds of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, which have
been mostly lost and forgotten.

In order to better understand the Bodhi-Tree meditation,
we will next discuss its
symbolism in greater detail.